By James Quarello

SNEC Education Committee Chairman

I was honored with the request by our chapter leaders to attend this year's conference in Chicago. I had never been to LTC before and was not quite sure what to expect. I was assured it would be great and would enjoy the conference coming away with many new ideas for our chapter.

I flew out to Chicago on the morning of the conference arriving at the hotel about an hour before the start of the training. I met up with our other four attendees at the hotel. I felt we were certainly well represented with five members from our chapter.

A feather in my local chapters cap (Sothern New England) was that two of our members would be presenters on the second day of the conference. A breakout seminar on Creating and Operating a Vibrant Chapter had been previously so well received, they had been asked to put it on for the entire group.

The conference began with short speeches from Frank Lesh, current ASHI President, Melvin Jacobs, ASHI Chapter Relations committee, and Bob Kociolek, Director of Chapter Relations & State Affairs.

The first seminar was by Debbie Long on Ethical Decision Making Skills for ASHI Leadership. Ms. Long is a Realtor; the irony was not lost on this group! One interesting fact she brought to light is that Realtors score low on ethics tests. As if that is any surprise to us home inspectors. But before anyone goes off patting themselves on the back, home inspectors have never been tested.

Her presentation was very enlightening and educational on being aware of, and using ethical thinking processes. What I got from her presentation was there is never more than one "right" answer to an ethical question.

Her presentation was followed by a workshop on using the ASHI Chapter Ethics Program. This exercise was a great compliment to Ms. Long's presentation.

The day's conference ended with Dan Howard, ASHI PR Committee, with a presentation on Rebuilding Together, Where ASHI Members Make the News for Saving Lives.

Rebuilding Together is a national charitable program similar to Habitat for Humanity. Dan's PRO ASHI Chapter was involved in helping Rebuilding Together with skilled professionals within the Chapter who gave their time to the organization. One of the many benefits of their contributions was lots of good, free publicity in the community.

The second day began with a presentation from Janet Swandby, ASHIs' political lobbyist, on Legislation and Lobbying. Her presentation dispelled for me many myths and misinformation concerning home inspector licensing and legislation. During the Q & A portion of her presentation we heard two home inspection legislative nightmare stories. One from the Texas representatives and the other from the New York affiliates. Both related stories of detrimental changes in the home inspection laws in their respective States. These changes were enacted basically by a lack of importance and or vigilance by the inspectors concerning employing lobbiest or political watchdogs.

If any home inspector ever doubts the validity of hiring a political watchdog, contact a home inspector in Texas or New York. I'm sure your doubts will be eliminated.

The next presentation was by Jill McCrory from Leadership Outfitters. She actually presented two seminars book ending the presentation by the fellows from my local chapter.

Her presentations dealt with cultivating new chapter leaders and volunteers. How leaders should practice good leadership skills and reward volunteerism. Included were some fun workshops to get you thinking outside the box.

The highlight of the conference was our two wild and exuberant guys from Connecticut who gave a fast, fun and upbeat presentation on Creating and Operating a Vibrant Chapter. The first half of their show was just that, a game show. There were five rounds in which two tables competed against each other for the most correct answer to questions on creating good chapters. They even gave away prizes at the end!

They finished their presentation with a more serious discussion of the ideas they touched on in their show. They did a great job and it was evident that a lot of time and effort went it to their presentation.

 

The conference ended with some parting comments from Frank Lesh and Bob Kociolek.

 

So was my trip worth while to Chicago land? You bet! It demonstrated some obvious things to me about ASHI. I think there is no other home inspector organization out there that can even closely compare to ASHI.  Their dedication to the profession, to their members, and most importantly the consumer, I don't believe you will find in any other home inspector organization. ASHI has demonstrated it is more than willing to invest in its local chapters and members to grow and strengthen the organization. Many others talk the talk, but few if any walk the walk. ASHI leads the way, the rest are just trying to keep up.